The Secretary of State for Social Economy and Solidarity of France, Marlène Schiappa, is this month’s “cover girl” of Playboy magazine. The news was advanced by Paris Match magazine on Friday of last week and was accompanied by a cut showing the top half of the front page, in which only the historic header and Schiappa’s face were visible. The magazine has already gone on sale, with an interview with the politician and a 12-page photo report (in which she does not appear naked). The initiative of the political media has generated a major uproar: the French Prime Minister called him when he found out about it to reproach him for the “inappropriate” decision, the Minister of the Interior came out to support him and the The opposition has taken the opportunity to undermine the Government in the midst of a crisis over pension reform. Schiappa has justified his appearance in Playboy on Twitter: “To defend the right of women to dispose of their bodies, always and everywhere. In France, women are free. Even if it annoys retrogrades and hypocrites”.
Faced with the escalation of the controversy, La Vanguardia reported on it on Tuesday in the digital edition and the next day in print. The image that accompanied the news, however, was a montage that mixed the top half of the actual cover with a photograph of a model, more provocative and from the year 2020. The AFP agency places the origin of the fake on a Twitter account and points out that other recognized Spanish, Italian and English media also took it for granted. In La Vanguardia, the image was removed from the web on Wednesday, and on Thursday the printed edition published a faith of errors.
The reader Marc B. de Valmont, a French resident in Paris and who declares himself a loyal reader of La Vanguardia, wrote to me on Wednesday to warn of the “serious error” published: “I am disappointed that a serious newspaper like La Vanguardia, committed to the defense of quality and proven journalism, and critical of the misinformation that has been poisoning our societies for several years (as evidenced by his various reports), make a mistake like this”. Other readers warned of blasphemy in the comments of the digital edition.
The fact that the montage was an extension of the actual cover and that other media had previously published it probably contributed to the error. But Mr. Valmont is absolutely right: after having warned of the risks of social media bullshit and defended quality journalism as the best defense against disinformation, there are no valid excuses. All we have to do is apologize and renew our commitment to checking and verifying everything we publish.
